Fizzy, thin, overly carbonated beer

I brewed an Oatmeal Stout back on 2/15, which I bottled on 3/15. So it has been in the bottle for almost a month. I pulled one and refrigerated it after the first week in the bottle and it tasted a little thin, lacking in flavor and under carbonated w no head. So, more or less what you would expect. At two weeks it tasted better, had great head on the pour but was a little fizzy even after refrigeration. So I decided to take 2 and uncap them for an hour. I then put the uncapped test beers in the fridge along with 2 that I kept capped to compare. So what happened is the uncapped then recapped beers were delicious. The ones that had remained capped were terrible though. Tasted like thin ginger ale w dark malt. So I decided to uncap everything I had, let them sit for 90 minutes, then recapped them all. I put a fair amount in the fridge and the rest are sitting somewhere cool.

So my question is... what happened? Is my beer over carbonated? Will letting them sit and some time in refrigeration help with the over carbonation?

Thanks
Mark

When you say they taste thin I would guess you used RO water. But if they taste fine after removing the caps and re-capping then Maybe tjhey are over carbonated. How much priming sugar did you add and what was your final volume in the bottling bucket?

You did all this after only two weeks in the bottle? That's a bit rash, especially for a roasty beer. It's possible that you had over carbonated, but it's perhaps more likely that your beer just hadn't finished carbonating. It seems counter-intuitive, but a beer that hasn't finished conditioning properly will often seem over-carbonated.

+1 to that

a beer that hasn't finished conditioning will also seem to lack body, and beers using darker malts for whatever reason take longer to condition. next time let it sit maybe six weeks before you start to worry.

MalFet said:

You did all this after only two weeks in the bottle?

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They've been in the bottle for a month. So the ones I didn't refrigerate I will let sit for another two weeks or more.

I don't understand why the 2 bottle I tasted at 3 weeks, uncapped/recapped, then fridged for 3 days tasted so good though. That got me thinking that the other ones bottles needed the same treatment. IE: recap and fridge.

mcslain said:

They've been in the bottle for a month. So the ones I didn't refrigerate I will let sit for another two weeks or more.

I don't understand why the 2 bottle I tasted at 3 weeks, uncapped/recapped, then fridged for 3 days tasted so good though. That got me thinking that the other ones bottles needed the same treatment. IE: recap and fridge.

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Like I said, they very well might be over-carbonated, but at two weeks it would be too early to make that assessment. I don't totally follow your timeline here, but fast-forming and fast-dissipating head, fizziness, and thin body are classic symptoms of incomplete conditioning.

Opening the bottle letting some of the CO2 nucleate off likely made the beer taste less fizzy, but my hunch would be that it happened at the expense of good head formation. Of course, I can't see the beer.

I would always give a bottled stout at least 6 weeks before reacting. However, you may be right.. it might be overcarbonated. How much priming sugar did you add to how much beer?

Well, I went back to the store where they had assembled the oatmeal stout kit. My thinking was that maybe I needed to have measured out the priming sugar from the kit instead of assuming it was pre-measured and using the whole thing. But the bags in the kits are only 5 oz (for a 5 gallon batch). So I guess I'm not over carbonated? Still I have fizzy thin beer w an off taste.

So, I am 4 weeks + out from bottling. As a recap, the beer tasted real fizzy at two weeks. So I experimented w two bottles by uncapping for an hour, then recapping and putting them in the fridge for 3 days. These were great tasting w excellent head and carbonation. So I recapped everything else the same way thinking I had an awesome batch. The recapping didn't seem to help the other beers though. Still at 4 weeks out they taste bad, pretty much like they did at 2 weeks out.

I'm starting to think I might have to dump my batch. But I'd rather not if there are any suggestions. I'll certainly hold on to them for at least another month though to see if there is a change. The logic of why I had some great beer with the test round I recapped and drank at about 2 to 3 weeks out is beyond me though. How can I have 2 great beers and 60 or so bad ones from the same batch?

Thanks for any suggestions. I really appreciate the help.

If you can spare the bottles at all don't dump it. I'm pretty sure there are special beer elves that go around fixing stouts that are left alone for extended periods of time. If you've got the space and bottles just forget about'em for a few months and focus on another batch or two, or seventeen.

I made a stout for my second batch, thought I was doing good because I waited an entire month before opening one. Decided it wasn't great, was thin and the finish wasn't really there, but it was definitely beer and as such it was consumed. I found one like 6 months later, lesson learned, good stouts come to those who wait.

The best way to fix that stout is to ignore it for another 2 months. Stouts take a long time to mellow out and become great.

Awesome. Rarely in life do you get advice along the lines of 'do nothing.' I can handle that! I'll throw the stout in my closet and get started with my next batch, a Stone Ruination clone. Thanks!